The New Zealand defenders are pinning their hopes on the "Hula", a hull appendage designed to boost speed by increasing the boat's waterline length and volume.
The innovation has caused a stir but has yet to be tested in serious competition.
Secret weapon
Alinghi also tested an appendage on their second boat, SUI 75, but said they would continue to race with the winning SUI 64.
Four EPFL laboratories, 15 scientists and 20 students conducted multiple stress tests on carbon fibre used in the hull and mast, calculating the effects of wind, waves and water pressure, EPFL spokesman Nicolas Henchoz said.
EPFL also contributed to the world's first non-stop round-the-world balloon trip by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and space flights of Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier.
Bertarelli said last month that if Alinghi won the trophy he would probably move sailing's top event to the Mediterranean or the Atlantic.
He named Naples, Barcelona, Palma de Majorca and Saint Tropez as possibilities, as well as Lisbon. Sete in France, where Alinghi's crew trained, had made an offer.
"We have started to think about it. The first criteria is the weather, then the logistics," Bertarelli told reporters on his recent visit.
"If we bring the event to Europe it has to be done on the large scale that a great sporting festival deserves."
Alinghi executive director Michel Bonnefous, interviewed in Auckland, ruled out holding the regatta at home, saying that both winds and dock space were inadequate.
The Yacht Club of Geneva organizes the annual "Bol d'Or" race, drawing some 600 boats for Europe's largest lake regatta which Bertarelli has won four times.
Bleary-eyed fans among its 3,000 members watched the Louis Vuitton Cup in the middle of the night at the posh club founded in 1872, where they will gather again for the final.
Landlubbers
"If Alinghi wins, it is the club which is the official holder.
"The question of where to hold the next America's Cup will be settled between the club and syndicate by mutual agreement," Alec Tournier, club secretary-general, told Reuters.
"The Deed of Gift requires holding the event at sea or an arm of the sea. It would take years of litigation to change it," he added, referring to the original America's Cup rules.
Swiss radio said after the Louis Vuitton win that if Alinghi clinched the America's Cup, "it would represent something incredible for a country deprived of seas or oceans."



